Into the Dark
by xIrelandx
Summary: Medusa has another weird scheme, but this time it involves a love potion. Things go horribly wrong. Or should that be horribly right? Hilarity, fluff, and insane cracky out-of-character moments ensue. SoMa main, Kizzles and TsuStar side.
1. Chapter 1

Soul, in scythe-form, groaned in agitation. Kid had been wandering up and down the alleyway for over an hour, trying to find a way to balance Soul so that they both felt and looked symmetrical, despite this being the exact opposite point of this exercise.

"Hey, Soul…does this feel symmetrical to you?"

Soul suppressed a snort at the amount of sexual innuendos now trolling through his mind. "I dunno, Kid…"

Kid bit his lip in worry. "What do you think would make it more symmetrical?"

"I think…" Soul began rocking back and forth in Kid's hands. "THIS!" Soul threw all of his weight and concentration into slamming his blade into Kid's forehead.

Kid dropped Soul and went into ducky-squat position. Soul transformed back into a human and put his hands behind his head.

"That wasn't very partnerly of you, Soul." Kid's shoulders were shaking. Soul was torn between annoyance at Kid's overreaction and sympathy toward his condition; Kid was definitely making things more difficult than they needed to be, but Soul also knew that he couldn't really help it.

Soul shrugged awkwardly. "Che, whatever." It was nearly midnight and they hadn't even started on their mission. They'd left as soon as school had let out, had spent about two hours at Kid's house preparing, about three hours trying to search for the "perfect" entrance, and…Soul couldn't even remember what they did for the rest of that time. He might have even fallen asleep during it.

"We're supposed to be working together, Soul," Kid admonished, wiping the dust and dirt from his immaculate clothes. Soul didn't really need reminding of why he and Kid were working together. He, Maka, Kid, Liz, and Patty had been dragged into Lord Death's…well, he couldn't really call it an office; they'd been pulled into Lord Death's space and told that for the next month, they'd be switching partners.

"I want Kiddo to learn to play well with others ~" was how Lord Death had phrased it. As Maka explained it later, "You, like papa, are an actual scythe. Lord Death can use any weapon, but he usually sticks with my papa. He wants Kid to do the same, with you. It's tradition." Maka seemed mischievously happy about the switch, holding hands and giggling with Liz and Patty. Soul didn't think that Maka, who was rather tomboyish, would enjoy spending all that time with Liz and Patty – especially since they'd also decided to switch residences – but she definitely looked more excited than Soul felt. That wasn't to say that Soul disliked Kid, it was more that, well…

"You are more annoying than Maka on her perfectionist days. And at least she has good reasons for worrying. What the Hell is it gonna matter if I don't look symmetrical in your hands?"

Kid's face began to redden, although Soul couldn't tell if it was in anger or embarrassment. Soul had a tendency to evoke both emotions in his friends. "I apologize for my imperfections. You know, we can't all be perfect like your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend," Soul muttered. "But seriously. At least Maka freaks out about things like technique and whether or not moves will work. You're having panic attacks because the weapon you're gonna have to use to save your life and the lives of others may be a centimetre or too off from being perfectly symmetrical when you're not even using it! What exactly are you gonna do when we get attacked? Pathetic."

There was an awkward silence as Kid contemplated their situation. "I suppose you're right. Well…that's enough for one night!"

Soul grabbed the back of Kid's collar. "Oh, Hell no. I did not just spend five plus hours wandering around with you acting like an idiot for us to get absolutely nothing done." Soul ran forward, using his scythe blade to break through the decimated walls, dragging a screaming Kid behind him.

"Soul! What the Hell are you doing?"

Soul didn't answer, but what he was doing was trying a tactic he often used on Maka when she began to overthink things.

"There is a witch in here, Kid – a witch. And not the nice kind like Kim and hopefully Angela. The douchy kind, like Medusa, only hopefully she's not quite that much of a threat yet. If we don't get moving now, she will be."

Kid dug his heels into the ground and Soul started to trip. He grabbed onto the wall to keep his balance, while Kid slammed a fist into his face, throwing him to the ground. "Please do not ever try that again! Is this perfectly clear?"

"Fine," Soul snapped. "I'll just go find this witch and defeat her myself."

"Ugh! Soul! Get back here! What are you going to do without your meister?" Kid ran off after him.

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"Geez Maka, what are we going to do with those two?" Maka shook her head. She, Liz, and Patty had successfully taken down their own target several hours ago and, after receiving an urgent and worried call from Lord Death, were on their way to help Soul and Kid take down theirs. Maka didn't really mind helping out, but she was worried about Kid's Obsessive-Compulsive tendencies spiraling out of control. Well...more out of control than they already were, if Liz and Patty weren't exaggerating (and for once, they weren't). Maka had faith in Kid's powers, but she had no idea how he could remain sane with such a tough job if he couldn't even handle having an asymmetrical weapon to work with.

Maka was now running with both Liz and Patty, in gun-form, in her hands. She was used to working with one arm free, but since there was no blade, she was able to run more smoothly. The change was welcome, though it felt strange.

"Where do you think they could have gotten to?"

"Well, I just tried to sense Kid's Soul. It feels like we've passed them. Are they even in here yet? What's taking them so long?"

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"Soul! Stop!"

"Why? Am I not running symmetrically?"

"Well, no, you're not, but that isn't the point: This could be really dangerous."

"Oh?" purred a voice. "What was your first clue?" The witch looked almost exactly like Soul was expecting; her clothing was various shades of pink, red, and gold. She looked beautiful and was ornately dressed. The only thing Soul wasn't expecting was the scowl and the black hair. "I've been waiting for you" she whispered. She blew a kiss in their direction. Soul knocked Kid out of the way, landing on top of him. "Oh, I had no idea you swung that way."

"I don't" Soul snarled, glaring at Kid. He helped Kid up, then kicked him from behind. "If you're not going to help, get out of the way!"

"Aw, a lover's spat," the witch teased. "How sweet."

"Soul, we're supposed to be working together," Kid stressed.

"It might go better if you actually worked, Kid."

"Okay" The witch yawned. "Now, you're boring me. Time to make things interesting…Liebe lieben, amour amoure." The Witch pointed a finger at Soul, who was still arguing fervently with Kid.

Soul slapped his head. It felt like he'd been bitten by a bug or something. "Now things will be worth watching!...but not tonight," the Witch purred again.

"What? Get back here and fight!"

"No thank you, I think I'll wait 'til the spell takes effect."

"Hey lady! What the Hell are you talking about?"

"I haven't really gotten a chance to try it out on a weapon yet, I wonder what it'll do?"

"Would you please quit yabbering on like you don't want to tell me? What did you do to me?"

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough. You'll run into someone special, and then you'll understand." She waved. "That's all for now. I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Lame!" Soul countered, in a weak attempt to get the Witch to return. It was ineffective.

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Soul was once again running away from Kid, although he wasn't paying much attention to where he was going. What the Hell did that witch mean? And where the Hell did Kid go? Soul was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't realize when he –

"Ow – God, Soul, watch where you're going!"

"Ugh, sorry Maka – Maka? What are you doing here?"

Maka dusted herself off. Soul twitched. Everything was beginning to remind him of Kid and his annoying habits. "We were told to come down here and assist you and Kid…Where is Kid?"

"Don't know…don't care. Where are Liz and Patty?"

Maka shrugged. "I don't know. I think Liz went to go look for Kid. She told Patty to stay put, but I'm pretty sure Patty ran after her anyway."

There was a small silence. "I'm just getting the Hell outta here before he comes back, care to come with?"

Maka giggled and grabbed Soul's arm. "I'm down with that. Have you eaten yet?"

Soul shook his head, although he didn't really feel like eating. His face felt flushed and he felt slightly sick, but he'd forgotten about the Witch.


	2. Chapter 2

"Soouull, Soouull –"

Soul attempted to kick the disembodied voice away, but it grabbed onto his leg. "Oh, now is that any way to treat an old friend?"

"Since when are we friends?" Soul growled in his sleep, attempting again to kick away the voice. He wound up kicking it on its horned head.

"Come on now, you know how this works. It's a guidance type thing. You may not always like what I tell you, but I'm always right, yes?"

Soul pried an eye open. "I don't think 'right' is exactly the word for it." Soul stared at what the demon held in his hands. "The Hell? A guitar? You know I don't play guitar."

"Why not? You already play the piano. Isn't that the root of all things musical?"

"No, not really." Soul looked around the red-and-black checkerboard room. It was still decked out in gothic candles and curtains, but - "Where is the piano? It's not like you're doing anything, you could have rebuilt it by now."

"Not been doing anything?" he hissed. "In the past few nights I've been battling off this infection you gave me."

Soul neither knew nor cared what the he was talking about. He just wanted to go back to sleep. Soul sighed. "Why did you bring me here?"

"Because of this" he thrust the guitar at him. "You should learn to play. I hear chicks dig it."

"'_I hear chicks dig it?'_ How old are you anyway?"

"Old enough to know that you won't be young forever. You should get one of these chicks while you still can."

Soul rolled his eyes. "In case you haven't noticed, I have somewhat more important things to deal with at the moment than you and whatever your angle is."

The demon shook his head in disappointment. "Come on, Soul. You know it'll make you more powerful. Didn't we go through this whole thing with the piano?"

"I'm not learning guitar. Besides, I can't use my Black Blood. I'm partnered with Kid. He couldn't even handle the Book of Eibon. He has a panic attack every time he looks down at the sidewalk. Who knows what infecting him with that stuff could do?"

"What makes you think I'd infect him with Black Blood?" he asked innocently.

"Uhm. Hello. Maka. Every time we perform Soul Resonance. And I do not want to see Kid in that dress."

"Why? Is it special to your girlie?"

Soul glared. He slowly and smoothly put the guitar behind his back, and swung it out like a bat, knocking the demon clear across the room. "Kid has chicken legs, Maka is not my girlfriend, and I'm going back to sleep."

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"I can't believe you're still awake at this hour." Maka rubbed at her eyes. She couldn't see the clock, but she supposed she wouldn't want to know the time anyway. It was well after midnight, but the Thompson sisters were still wide awake.

"We're used to Kid riding us hard all night," Liz apologized. Patty sniggerd at the invisible innuendo. Liz blushed and smacked Patty lightly over the back of the head.

"Well…" Maka started picking at the carpet. Why did it always look so dirty? "It's not like we can train at this hour."

"We haven't perfected Soul Resonance, and that's kind of important. Why don't we try that?" Maka groaned. Liz smirked; "Or we could play Truth or Dare?"

Maka grabbed one of each of the Thompson sisters' hands, muttering "Let's go, Soul Resonance".

The three found themselves in a wide, open library, not unlike the one at school. Maka looked around her, and then down at her hands. She was wearing the same dress that she wore whenever she visited Soul's room. "Well, that's interesting."

"What the Hell? Why do you get a pretty dress and I'm in this?" Liz looked like a librarian. There was no change to Patty's dress.

"Erm…I don't know."

"Well it's your head! Change it!"

"I don't think I can. And it's not my head, it's my soul."

"So what? In your deepest, darkest fantasies, I'm a librarian?"

"I've never even been here before!" She felt embarrassed, though she was sure this would be nothing compared to the kind of conversation she and Soul would be having if he were there. She could have run over it in her head, but her brain was too tired for her imagination to work properly.

"Oh well…I guess it worked then. So…." Liz smiled deviously. "Truth, or dare?"


	3. Chapter 3

Soul purposefully sat himself in between Tsubaki (much to Black*Star's chagrin) and Maka during class. There was no way in Hell he was going to sit next to Kid while he whispered, passed notes, and corrected Soul's posture based on the theory that a symmetrical stance meant a healthier and happier life and a better attitude. Soul had shown Kid exactly what he thought of this theory last night by adjusting all of the paintings to hang two centimetres off of where they were "supposed" to be, and Soul had no intention of taking accountability for his actions.

Maka cocked her head at Soul. Soul pretended not to notice. He got that sick feeling again, the one he had last night where his mind went blank and all sound dulled and his pulse raced and he felt about to vomit, which was just weird.

"Soul? Why aren't you sitting next to Kid?"

"Why aren't you sitting next to the Thompson sisters?" he countered.

Maka grimaced. "Don't ask." Soul nodded.

Professor Stein walked in, cigarette between his lips. "Someone has stolen my rolly chair." Soul noticed Maka slouch in her seat, her bangs forming a shadow over her eyes. It was Soul's turn to gaze – no, look – at Maka with curiosity. "Unless you give yourselves up willingly –" his stare rested on Black*Star, who made a bring-it-on gesture "I will dissect you." When no one came forward (although Patty and Liz did some very unsubtle giggling), Stein began the lesson.

Soul didn't pay attention during class. He attempted to; the lesson was actually relatively interesting, not that Soul needed it. As a Death Scythe, the kind of thing Stein was explaining came naturally to him. Soul smiled on the inside, knowing that for once he wouldn't have to cheat to pass a test (Maka and Kid both kept insisting that if he just studied he wouldn't need to cheat to begin with). Instead, Soul found himself staring at Maka's hands as she took down notes on a lesson for which she, too, was already privy to the information. Soul watched her hands going back and forth, pausing occasionally to think of new abbreviations and drawing a diagram here and there. Watching her write was fascinating. He noticed that, now that she was working with guns, she no longer wore gloves. Her handwriting was so smooth and so legible that he wondered how strained her hands were by the end of a typical class. He got so wrapped up that he actually began reading her notes without realizing it, and was surprised to find that he actually understood what they meant.

Soul didn't realize that class had been dismissed until Maka was straightening up her notes. She reached out and touched Soul lightly on the shoulder. Soul whipped around, nearly falling out of his seat. "Are you okay, Soul?" She frowned at him. "You've been acting strangely all morning. Are you running a fever?" She pressed her hand softly to his forehead. "You're all flushed…" Soul indeed did feel flushed. In an unnatural move, he leaned forward. He'd never noticed before how soft her hands were. Maka's frown deepened. "Come on Soul, let's get you home."

"I moved Kid's paintings" he blurted.

"I know, he won't shut up about it." She smiled slyly. "Don't worry, by home, I meant our apartment."

_Our apartment, our apartment…I miss our apartment…_

"Maka, Soul, may I speak to you for a moment, please?"

Maka wrapped a hand around Soul's arm and pulled him down toward Marie and Professor Stein. "Yes?" she asked tentatively.

"I was just wondering…how are you two getting along with your new partners?"

"Liz and Patty are pretty energetic, so our lifestyles don't always match up, but we're doing fine when it comes to battling. Soul, on the other hand –"

"I want to shove a scalpel through his head most days" Soul finished. Stein burst out laughing.

"You know, Soul, you remind me of myself when I was your age." Soul felt his stomach drop, but not in the weightless way it did around –

"But you two still seem close," Stein commented. The words She is not my girlfriend crossed Soul's mind but not his lips.

"Yeah" Maka switched her weight to her other foot. "I actually need to get Soul back, he's not feeling too well."

"That's too bad. I guess I'll see you both later."

Marie waved happily as the two left the classroom and she entered it, Maka switching from her hand being around Soul's arm to her arm being around Soul's shoulder. Marie paused. "Huh. I wonder if they'll go back to being partners when the month is up, or if Soul will stay with Kid?" she asked no one in particular

"I don't think Soul could stand to stay with Kid if he wanted to. I honestly think the tradition is going to be changing soon – those two clash worse than…" Stein responded. He paused to scratch his head. "Well, I don't think I've ever seen a pair so poorly matched. Kid's meant to work with the Thompson sisters."

A thought suddenly occurred to Marie. "Stein, when did your hair turn white?"

"Hm?" He lit a cigarette. "It didn't turn white, it's always been that way."

Marie put a finger to her lips, letting the cogs work things through. Blonde, can combat insanity…white hair, goes insane now and then… "They remind me of someone. I just wish I knew who."

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Soul felt slightly embarrassed to be taken care of. For some reason, the image of Ragnarok hitting Crona over the head came to mind. It probably had something to do with the way that he was thinking: God Soul, you are so stupid. Why do you keep acting like that? You know she's going to freak out, you know how she reacted when Crona…however long ago it was. It's amazing she doesn't hold a funeral service every time you break a bone…

Maka walked Soul past his room and straight to hers. "I'm sorry, but Liz and Patty have kinda…redone your room." Soul figured the look on his face must have been pretty horrified. "I'm really sorry, I'll put everything back together before you come home –" before you come home… "But for now, I think you'll be more comfortable in my room…it doesn't smell quite as bad and it's not quite as…pink."

"It's okay…" Soul mumbled.

Maka set him down on her bed, making sure to remove his shoes. Soul tried to sit up, but Maka shoved his shoulders back down onto her bed. Maka blushed horribly, imagining how this would look if her papa were to suddenly show up…and she wouldn't put it past Blair to make that happen. "You…you should lay down." Maka scurried off to the kitchen to get a wet washcloth.

Soul stared at the ceiling of Maka's bedroom. The cracks looked like clouds and bunnies and…why was he thinking about bunnies? Shit, Liz and Patty didn't find my –

"Liz and Patty, um…found your…" Maka coughed. "Magazines." She was staring mortified at the floor. She knew that he must have had them, but she never wanted to know about it. She wanted to call him out on being pervy or something, but she knew in her heart that it was normal for guys his age, and she didn't want to yell at him when he was already feeling so poorly. "They threw them out…sorry." She wasn't really sorry.

"That's okay…I don't really care. I was gonna throw them out anyway." Soul wasn't even really sure what he was saying, but he somehow felt like he didn't really need them anymore. Truth be told, he'd kind of forgotten about them. Since Blair had come to live with them, there wasn't that much of a need for them. In fact, everything over-sexualised had become grotesque to Soul. He'd meant to throw them out, but he'd also wanted to keep them a secret from Maka. There was no need to upset her. If she didn't know about it, it wouldn't hurt her. Blair, shockingly, was also not that big a fan of the magazines. He'd heard her yelling at Spirit about them one day, and when Blair got angry...

"I'm sorry, Maka…"

She was now applying a cool washcloth to his forehead, sitting next to him on the edge of her bed. She looked puzzled. "What for?"

"Magazines…Boobs…mocking…stuff." Soul closed his eyes, letting his body relax.

Maka actually giggled. "Oh, okay…" She trailed off. Soul's breathing evened out, and Maka began humming to herself as she eased his jacket off, tucked him in, and kissed his forehead softly before putting the washcloth back on his forehead.

But Soul wasn't quite asleep yet. He was trying to figure out where, exactly, he'd heard that song before. The song she was humming, it sounded so familiar. So dark, mysterious, but beautiful and flowing. It occurred to him, as his left hand fell to his side and his right hand fell off the bed, that the song she was humming was the song he played for her when they first met.


	4. Chapter 4

Soul woke up to a loud crash and Liz screaming shrilly at Blair. "You Goddamn cat, give it back!"

"Nya! Blair does not like your attitude!"

Soul heard Maka's infamous battle cry ("Maka CHOP!") and the sound of a very heavy book (judging from the amount of noise it made upon impact and the depth of the noise, he was guessing that it was a copy of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare) hitting a hard, solid surface. He turned to lie on his stomach, clamping a pillow down over his head. He took in the scent of…was that strawberries? For a moment, Soul forgot that he actually now lived with Kid, and that he was lying in Maka's bed. He scrambled to get out, shaking slightly and scratching at his nose. He rubbed his hands together anxiously and tried to straighten out his jeans. He all but ran out of Maka's room and sprinted out the door of her apartment.

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Soul found it ridiculously easy to tune Kid out. Kid didn't notice the difference (according to Kid himself, "you have that stupid, lop-sided look on your face all the time! I can't even tell if you're paying attention right now, and it's so unsymmetrical!"). Soul didn't remember when Kid finally stopped lecturing him, and that was probably because Soul fell asleep while Kid was lecturing him.

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Soul awoke the next morning when Kid kicked his feet – which were somehow dangling above him – to the ground. Kid made a distinct tsking noise at him, and Soul glared in response. "Symmetry again?"

"I should be so lucky."

Whenever Soul and Maka argued about something, they actually argued about it. Kid, on the other hand, like to give the silent treatment, acting as though Soul weren't even there. Soul didn't really care. He had a massive headache and despite the copious amounts of sleep, was somehow still exhausted and…a bit depressed, though he didn't know why.

When they reached Shibusen, Kid embraced Liz warmly, exclaiming "Ah Liz…how I've missed you." Liz blushed.

"Wow. Okay. I uh, I miss you too, bud" she gave Kid an awkward punch on the arm.

Soul saw Maka running up to him, some object held up in her right hand. Despite the very firm statement in his mind of Oh, I must have dropped something at her place the other day, when Maka reached Soul, he reached out and grabbed her, pulling her into a warm and…affectionate hug.

Oh my God Soul, what are you doing? You have to let her go, she's going to get suspicious. Why are you hugging her? Let go of her!

Soul slowly let Maka wiggle out of his grasp, giggling all the while. "Here –" she put the hairband on his head, pushing back a few strands of hair in his eyes. Soul blushed at the touch, and then blushed even more out of the embarrassment of his blushing, and his whole face went red when Maka commented on it ("Gee Soul, why are you blushing? You've never had a problem with headbands before" – although he was sure that she knew that wasn't the problem). Still giggling, Maka grabbed a hold of Soul's arm and drug him – ignoring Kid's calls – to class.

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Medusa hummed discontentedly. "Amortentia" she called. The witch appeared by her side, still beautiful, still ornately dressed, still with a dour expression on her face.

"Yes, Medusa?"

Medusa glared up at her. "Your spell – it's not working quickly enough. Why isn't it working quickly? We need to destroy these two. If we get to him, we can get to her. That's all we need: him rendered useless. She won't know what to do without him."

Amortentia placed a hand on her hip. "I don't know what you expect me to do. I hit the kid with the spell. It is working on him, it's just slow."

"Yes" Medusa hissed. "I know that, what I want to know is why? Why is it working so slowly? It works quickly on normal humans, yes?"

"Maybe it has something to do with that Black Blood you infected him with."

"How do you know about that?"

"You have your secrets…I have mine."

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It had been a week since Soul had started living and working with Kid, but Soul could have sworn it had been several months already. He didn't know how he was supposed to stand this every day of his working life. To make things worse, his daily breaks from Kid were with Maka, of all people. There was nothing wrong with hanging out with Maka. They had always gotten on amicably when they were partners. It was no secret that the two were close, and despite the somewhat frequent spats, Soul would still give his life for her, no matter what.

But something had changed about the way that he felt when he was with Maka. At first, he attributed it to the fact that he no longer lived with her, so he no longer saw her as a workmate or suitemate, but just as a friend. Next, he thought that maybe he'd caught some kind of virus from a classmate, since his stomach always bottomed out and he felt sweaty and cold all at once, but nobody remembered having anything. He finally attempted to attribute it to the little demon in his soul, who he could constantly hear screaming "Fucking shit, goddamn sonovabitch! Doing this to me….dammit. It's blasphemy! I'll kill you for this, Soul. Damn! It burns!"

Then, the following Monday, he found himself talking to Maka outside of their lockers. He couldn't remember what they were talking about; he'd spent too much time panicking: she's so cute when she laughs. She looks so carefree and happy…I keep forgetting we have that stupid Kishin around. I don't remember her being this happy when we were partners. Why not? Oh, yeah, that's right. I'm kind of a jerk. Ugh, I miss living with her. She was quiet and not annoying and at least I knew she was there if I needed her and she wasn't going to freak out over every little thing…well, okay, she would, but not for the same reasons as Kid…and she smells like strawberries…wait…how do I know that she smells like strawberries? Oh, yeah, I slept…in her bed…shit…that sounds so bad…this all sounds so bad…did I really just say that I thought Maka is cute? Oh God –

"I have to go now" she chirped, launching herself onto Soul for a hug. Instead of feeling his stomach bottom out, he felt his heart blast through to his throat. He blushed and smiled involuntarily. The moment only lasted for about three seconds, but Soul felt like it was...some horrible cliche; a brand new day, maybe, or like he was seeing things differently. "I'll catch you later, Soul."

Soul's smile faded, and he touched the locker for support. Why am I feeling this way? Dammit, it's so annoying, and it's so not cool! I can't keep acting like this.

"Why not, Soul?" the little demon purred. "I suffer from this little disease, why shouldn't you?" the demon sounded bitter.

I don't know what you're talking about.

"Oh, like Hell. That witch put a spell on you."

Which witch? "Amortentia, the one you and that rich brat were following."

Yeah, so?

"So, she made you realize your true love."

Soul's thoughts stopped. She did what?

"You didn't hear the little spell resonating in your soul? I didn't pay attention to the whole thing and it's quieted down by now, but nonetheless…you will run into your true love, and your feelings will speed up. You'll be completely incapable of holding them in. Of course, it's a type of insanity."

What?!

"True love, it's a form of insanity. Foile a deux."

I'm not in love!

"Oh, like Hell you aren't. That's why you can't stand to be away from her, have horrible nightmares about what's happening to her when you're not around, the best part of your day is when you're with her –"

So I don't like being partnered with Kid, that hardly means I'm in love with Maka -

"Oh, you know it's more than that, Soul. You've felt the Black Blood acting up, as I have. That's why –the Black Blood, it doesn't mesh well with this stuff, and it throws your aura off -"

My what?!

"Your aura…it used to be black like your blood –"

My blood isn't completely black.

"Would you quit interrupting me?"

It's my head, I'll do what I like.

"Technically, it's your soul."

Would you just get on with it?

"Your aura used to be black. Now it's outlined by red. The true love, it's an insanity, just a different kind of insanity, sparked by something different."

How the Hell do I get rid of it?

"Don't you want to know what sets it off?"

No, not really, because then I'll just keep thinking about it. How the Hell do I get rid of it?

"First," the demon purred again, practically blowing air into Soul's ear, "You have to admit it, at least to yourself." Soul bit his lip. "Oh, go on, Soul. There's no one around, there's nothing to be afraid of."

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Maka had almost left Shibusen when she realized that she had completely forgotten to ask Soul if he wanted to hang out sometime over the weekend. She knew he would need to get away from Kid, and to be honest, she needed a break from the Thompson sisters. Black*Star and Tsubaki had already taken a mission, so they were out, and Kim had a date with Ox, made double by the inclusion of Jackie and Harvar (the latter seemed more excited than the former). She practically skipped back to their lockers, feeling light at heart. Soul and I are getting along better than usual, I wonder if our souls still resonate as well?

She stopped just short of their row of lockers, seeing Soul holding onto his own locker, head down, looking defeated and tired.

She started to call Soul's name, but was interrupted by Soul's own voice, talking to himself (or, she suspected, the demon within his Soul):

"Okay, I admit it. I'm…in love…with Maka."

Maka felt her face turn bright white. Legs felt too heavy to move, but she managed to move back a bit. She was blushing a bit, and didn't know what to think. Wait a minute, thinking? This isn't a moment for logic. A smile overcame her face. She felt…happy.

"But," Soul began again, "I can't ever tell her." Maka's expression fell. "She would never believe me…she'd think I was mocking her or something…or that it was part of the curse." She raised her brows. "The curse…shit…I have to let people know about that, before I do something really crazy." He sighed. "Great…now she really won't ever believe me…good thing I wasn't going to tell her anyway."

Maka managed to back off far enough so that she was no longer within hearing distance. She felt a rush of emotions…happy, upset, confused, concerned, ecstatic, worried, and determined all at once. She peeked around the corner, watching Soul readjust his headband. She smiled to herself, allowing her cheeks to go red. "He can tell me when he's ready."


	5. Chapter 5

Soul found that admitting his feelings about Maka didn't make him feel better. It just made him feel worse. A lot worse. He started to feel nauseated and light-headed around her. The tingling feeling in his stomach started up every time he even thought he heard Maka's name. He had a panic attack every time he heard she was on a mission because he was afraid something might happen to her. It got to the point where he ran out of things to say when he was talking to her, which made him even more freaked out. What if we don't have anything in common anymore? What if I'm just annoying her?

Soul had also developed an intense paranoia; he brought her up too often in conversation, and whenever someone else brought her up, he couldn't shut up. Someone was bound to notice. Soul was terrified that it was Maka. Whenever he saw her out of the corner of his eye, he could tell that she was smirking at him, as if she knew something more. She laughed a little more and seemed to intensely enjoy his slight discomfort when she hugged him.

Kid was the one who really noticed, and Soul spent too much time worrying about whether or not Maka noticed to realize that Kid had been hinting all along that he knew something. It wasn't until they were all at lunch one day that Kid mentioned Soul having a "dirty little secret" and knowing what it was. Maka blushed and looked down, pretending to be engrossed in a conversation with Tsubaki. Black Star said something about being reminded of a song – which he and Patty promptly burst into singing. Liz was trying to calm Patty and Black Star down, so there was no one to notice the devious smirk Kid was giving to Soul. Soul lost all control of his composure: his jaw dropped, showing Kid lovely bits of the sandwich he was eating; his eyes started twitching, almost giving him a double vision; he dropped his sandwich; the little bit of colour in his face drained; he started sweating; he blocked out all noise. Kid simply nodded, before turning to his left and flirting a bit with the girls.

X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X

Kid and Soul had silently worked out a system which allowed them to work with each other without beating the living tar out of one another: Soul remained silent, and Kid panicked silently. It led to an unfortunate lack of communication, but Soul was willing to go through with whatever Kid wanted to do without much questioning (he was, after all, a Shinigami. These kinda things came natural to him).

Kid was floating silently down an alleyway with Soul strapped to his back (the only way he could hope to forget about the asymmetry of it all) and decided that he'd had enough of silence. "So," he started. "How are things with you and Maka?"

Soul grunted, not having really paid attention to what he asked. "It's…whatever."

"Oh? So she doesn't return your affections?" Soul straightened up.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I never gave her cake."

Kid rolled his eyes. "I said affections, Soul, not confections. And there's no point in denying it. You know that I know how you feel."

"Okay, so how are you and Liz doing?"

Kid blushed and looked off to the side. "That, Soul, is none of your concern."

"And Maka and I are?"

"Oh," purred a sultry voice. "They are most certainly my concern."

Amortentia slinked out of a shadow in fox form, licking a paw boredly.

"And why would that be of your concern?" Kid demanded.

Soul snorted. "Well duh, Kid, she put the fucking spell on me."

"Spell?"

"And you think I'm dense."

"Le sigh. I am tired of your trite arguments. I am only here to check on you. My employer isn't pleased with the rate the infection is spreading. It's moving far too slowly."

"Wait – employer? Who do you work for?

"That would be, 'for whom do you work?' And that would also be none of your concern." She dodged past Soul's blade as Kid swiped at her, bolting into Kid's stomach and pining him to the ground. She coughed on him and he screamed, rolling back and forth and rubbing his eyes.

"What the fuck is wrong with you Kid? Stand up! Dear God!"

Soul attempted to transform, but was also knocked down by Amortentia. "Liebe Lieben Amour Amoure! Let's see what's going on in that heart of yours!"

Soul felt like his entire body was being violated, even though he was still in weapon form. He could practically feel her coursing through his blood stream. He felt the need to throw up, take a shower, and pee all at once. He wanted to scratch at his skin and tear his hair out. He couldn't ever remember feeling so slimy. But it didn't take long for Amortentia to look around before climbing out.

"Hm. Nope. We're gonna have to speed this up some more…how about a bad luck spell to your sweetheart? Let's see what happens when your petite-amie gets in trouble."

Soul wanted to swipe right through her, but found himself paralyzed in weapon form. Kid finally stopped wailing, only to be temporarily blinded. Soul felt like he was in one of those slap-stick comedy movies – the kind that didn't have dialogue, but annoying, repetitive music and a lot of pain. They attempted to run after her, but they knew it was too late.

X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X

Medusa watched from a tree outside as Amortentia sent a vapour through the small window in the bathroom, where Maka was showering. "Are you sure this will work?"

"Positive. The water will speed the process up."

"And the smell?"

"She'll think it's bubble bath or something. It smells good. Wanna smell?"

Medusa snarled "No."

Amortentia shrugged. "Your loss."

The two listened as Kid knocked down the front door, and watched as Soul knocked down the bathroom door. Maka screamed and threw a book at his head (Medusa: "Is that _War and Peace_?" Amortentia: "Where does she keep those?" Medusa: "I gave up asking a long time ago."). The two laughed. "Oh, his life will be Hell in no time."


	6. Chapter 6

Maka really felt that she was getting somewhere with Soul. He seemed to be opening up little by little. He'd told her what, exactly, he'd seen in the Envy chapter of Eibon, and even shown her what he'd learned so far on guitar. She thought that maybe he was getting close to telling her how he felt. She practically skipped down the steps, thinking nothing could make her feel unhappy now.

"Your month's almost up. Are you seriously thinking you're going to go back to Soul-senpai?"

Maka stopped. "Do you seriously think you're going to be his partner?"

"Why not? I'm smart. I'm pretty. I'm strong."

Maka turned around, glaring. It wasn't really like her to look so disdainfully on her fellow students. Even Black*Star, who had a knack for pushing her buttons, didn't earn her hatred. "You're barely even a one-star meister. What makes you think you can handle a Death Scythe?"

"I'm stronger than you."

The girl continued down the stairs, past Maka, and turned on the landing. "Even if Soul-senpai won't work with me, he has plenty of others to work with, Kid included. How many offers have you had?"

Maka stuck her chin up, looking down on her. "You're too scared to talk to Soul. You stalk us around school. If you really wanted to take Soul away from me, you would have been trying harder. Everyone else goes straight to him. Why are you approaching me about it?"

"Soul is labouring under some delusion of loyalty to you." Maka smirked at her. "Don't you dare give me that 'I know something that you don't' grin! You don't know anything!"

Maka laughed, walking down the steps. One at a time, she'll never know how scared you really are.

"You have no chance."

"Really? If that's how you feel, then why don't you fight me?"

"You know that's against school rules when no teachers are around. It would be unethical of me to fight a child. I'm not Black*Star."

"Chicken?"

"No. I just don't have the need to prove anything to you."

"Probably because you have nothing to prove."

Maka just kept walking, pretending like she couldn't hear the girl. The girl was not going to take that.

"We'll just see about that" she grumbled. She took one hand, placed it right behind Maka's back, and shot a burst of Soul Wavelength through her, sending Maka straight to the ground. Not exactly the desired effect, she thought, but I'll take it.

"What are you, nuts?"

"No. But I did study the way Black*Star fights. The only problem with him and Soul being partners is their incompatible Soul Wavelengths."

"And what makes you think that you're any better of a fit?"

The girl attempted to throw another Soul Wavelength at Maka, but it didn't work.

"You don't really have the talent for that kind of thing." Maka dusted herself off, turning back to the girl. "You might as well leave now. I'm not going to fight you."

"That's really too bad, because I'm going to fight you!"

Maka was mostly able to side-step the girl's attacks, unsure of what she was so nervous about before. A crowd started gathering around them, chanting for a fight. Maka looked around for a teacher to help her break up the fight, but in her moment of distraction, Maka received a kick to the face from the girl, landing on her knees. She wouldn't have felt so embarrassed – it wouldn't have been the first time she'd fallen down, nor would it be the last – if the girl hadn't come up, lifted her skirt, and commented, "oh, white undies? How unimpressive. And you have a porn star living under your roof, how are you so boring?" Maka attempted to kick her back, but the girl scooted back just in time. Maka fell flat on her chest, rattling her entire frame. "What the Hell could Soul-senpai seriously see in you? You're clumsy. You can't fight on your own. You're completely unattractive. You don't even have boobs!"

With a downward swipe, the girl's Soul Wavelength tore through Maka's jacket and shirt. The crowd became completely silent. Maka fell down again, hunched over, holding her chest and trying not to cry. The girl simply blinked, staying silent for a few moments before cackling wildly. "You bind your chest? Oh, this is too good! You enjoy this, don't you? You little masochistic freak!" She reached out to yank Maka's head upward, but was punched out of the way by a deafening blast.

Black Star stood, Tsubaki in hand, staring the girl down dangerously. "You will pay for this." Black Star dropped Tsubaki, who immediately ran to Maka's side. Black Star ran after the girl. Soul followed suite, bringing Sid and Stein along. "No, man" Black Star yelled. "Maka! I got the bitch, just go get Maka!"

Soul transformed his arm to his scythe blade and turned to face the crowd. "Get the fuck outta here, there's nothing to see." The people around them started stammering. Kim ran up, muttering some sort of spell to herself. Ox ran to Sid, explaining the situation. Sid ordered Ox and Kid to go get Spirit and Lord Death.

Maka couldn't pay attention to anything. She was just shaking and crying. Soul walked up to her, wrapping her up in his jacket and lifting her gingerly into his arms. "Go get Black*Star. We don't want him being arrested for murder." Tsubaki nodded. Kim ran up to Soul.

"I've erased that out of everyone's memories. I don't think it'll work on Maka, though," She bit her lip. Soul just nodded, walking in the direction of Maka's apartment.

X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X

Soul helped Maka apply the cream Nygus had sent over to Maka's wounds. Maka was blushing, refusing to look at him. He could read the devastated look on her face. He wanted to cry and scream for her. He wanted to destroy everything. He wanted to murder the girl who did this to her. But mostly, he wanted to hug Maka, to kiss her, and to tell her everything was going to be okay. But he knew that he couldn't. He had a feeling that any form of intimacy would just make things worse. She had, after all, just been beaten up and humiliated in close range, in front of everyone in school.

"You must be surprised. You must be wondering why."

"Hm?"

"You must be curious…as to why I bound myself."

Soul shrugged, smiling. "Not really. I'd been living with you for a few years before I had to go work with Kid. It's not like I didn't know you…had those."

She looked at him, a combination of shocked and angry. "So why did you keep making fun of me?"

"Because I knew you'd be mad if you thought I was treating you differently because of your size. It's like I said…It's not the size or the shape that matters." Maka blushed, remembering their first encounter with Blair. She felt bad. I still don't trust him as much as I should.

"Besides, it's not like I want anyone else knowing. You're my meister…I'll go along with whatever you want."

"Thanks."

Soul stood with his hands on Maka's shoulders. He looked at her intensely, hoping he could telepathically tell her how concerned he was, how upset he was, and everything else that he felt that he couldn't put into words. She sat up straighter, leaned in closer, staring at his lips. Soul felt strangely calm, leaning down toward her.

But, of course, Blair had to walk in right then. "Maka, you really shouldn't bind your chest, you could seriously hurt yours-" she paused, looking at the two. "Oh, uh, I'm –"

"No, it's okay Blair. I'm just. Uh." Soul kissed Maka's forehead awkwardly, blushing terribly on his way out.


	7. Chapter 7

Another bandaged fist slammed aggressively into Soul's locker.

"You know, Black Star, you really don't have to follow me around all day."

A terrified one-star meister ran off in the other direction.

"Huh?"

"I said," Maka shoved a particularly heavy-looking book into her locker. "You really don't need to follow me around all day. I can take care of myself, you know."

"BEAT IT, PUNK!" Another deep dent in the locker door. Another terrified kid running for his life. "I know you can handle yourself, but Soul asked me to look after you while he was talking to Lord Death. I'm just doing this to satiate Soul's paranoia."

Maka shook her head while Black Star began aimlessly swinging Soul's locker door back and forth. "I just don't understand what it is he's trying to protect."

"Duh. You. HEY, YOU! GET LOST! AMSCRAY! GET OUTTA HERE!"

Maka though Black Star looked a lot like an agitated monkey, swinging his hands, balled up in fists over his head.

She dragged him back by his collar. "Protect me from what? Harmless students?"

"Creeps who keep staring at you."

"They're not creeps, Black Star," she sighed. "Although I do wonder why I've suddenly gotten so many requests to be peoples' partner. I never got that many before. Actually, I've never gotten any before."

Black Star was back to hitting Soul's locker door to and fro. "That's because no one wants a partner who doesn't have sex appeal." Maka raised a book, poised to hit Black Star on the head with it. Black Star deflected it with his wrist. "Don't freak out, Maka. I just mean that people at this school are really shallow. You've always been a good meister, but they didn't want you before because you didn't have boobs, but now," he looked at her chest. Maka slapped his face upward. "You have a rack." Another boy was staring longingly at Maka. Maka glared at him. "KEEP YOUR PERVY EYES OFF OF HER YOU FREAK!"

X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X

Soul just knew that explaining things in front of Spirit Albarn was a bad idea.

"So what you're saying is," he began angrily, "some witch put you under some spell, and now you think you're in love with my daughter." Once again, Spirit had neglected to remember certain facts – like Soul was with Kid when it happened, the colour of his aura had changed (something both Marie and Stein confirmed), and the spell only worked with feelings that were already there.

That, and Maka didn't exactly seem displeased with the whole situation… "Yes, that approximately what I just repeated five times."

Lord Death, who hadn't seemed to have been paying attention, as he drank and played with his tea, piped up. "Well, that's rather unfortunate for you, Soul."

"Yes, it is," Spirit flared up, his right arm turning into a scythe blade. "Because now I'm gonna have to murder you!"

Lord Death hit Spirit over the head. "I really don't think there's any need to go that far, Spirit."

"Oh yeah? He's defiled my little daughter!"

"There's no proof that Soul and Maka have done anything, let alone that Maka even shares his feelings, right Soul?"

Soul wasn't sure if he should be happy that Lord Death was speaking in his defence, or distraught by the implication that Maka didn't feel the same way. "It's true, sir. It just speeds up feelings in the victim that were already there."

"What kind of feelings, you fiend?"

"True love."

Spirit paused looking at Shinigami, worriedly. If Soul could have seen Lord Death's face, he could have sworn he was smiling. "Oh now, that's interesting."

"What is, what's so interesting about that?"

"You see Soul, Spirit, there are many different kinds of love…familial, the kind you have for your parents; the kind of love you have for your community or friends; unrequited, which of course is what Spirit was hoping for. Then there's true love, which is always mutual."

The butterflies were back. "But I haven't noticed anything different about Maka…" Soul trailed off, thinking, while Lord Death continued to explain how things worked out. "Shit."

"I second that opinion" Spirit muttered.

Lord Death batted Spirit away. "What is it, Soul?"

"Maka got hit with a spell, too. At least, I think she did. When Kid and I ran into Amortentia and Medusa, they said they were going to put some kind of spell on her, but they didn't say what. By the time we got there, we didn't notice anything different, and no one remembered seeing anything weird."

Spirit and Lord Death exchanged worried glances. Or rather, Spirit gave Lord Death a worried glance, and Soul assumed Lord Death mirrored it.

"This could be problematic…Spirit, please get a hold of Blair. I think she might be able to help us."

X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X –X X – X X

"So Maka, what're you wearing to the party?" Black Star teased.

Maka twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "I think Soul and I are just going to be exchanging clothes. There's no real point in going out and buying new clothes, we're pretty much the same size…how about you and Tsubaki?"

"I'm switching with Patti" the two high-fived. "Tsubaki's too big for my clothing, and so is Liz. What I'm really curious about is how Kid's gonna look. We never saw him in that chapter of Eibon – hey Ox, Kim, Kilik, Harvar, Jackie."

The other members of Spartoi had joined the group to discuss the party Kid was planning on throwing for the end of the school year. Or rather, the more interesting part of it all: the theme.

"Is anyone else pissed about this?" Kilik snapped.

"Oh, cheer up. What's so bad about wearing girl clothes? At least it'll be nice and cool and breezy down there."

"I worry about you, sometimes."

"No going commando in my shorts, Black Star, or I will eat your brains out." Black Star guffawed loudly in response.

"If any boys around our size need girl clothes you can just borrow some of ours." Kim offered. "But I agree with Patti – no going commando."

"And I call dibs on her witch outfit." Ox declared. Kim blushed.

"Are you sure they'll let you wear that?"

"Why not?"

While the rest of the boys debated the appropriateness of Kim's witch outfit, Soul and Kid walked up quietly, faces blank. Maka practically skipped up to Soul. "What's wrong, guys?"

Soul looked to Kid, who narrowed his eyes at Maka. "There's something we all need to discuss with you. But first, you need to talk to my father. We can discuss the rest later, after the party."


	8. Chapter 8

Liz stopped Kid in his tracks, scrutinizing his outfit of choice. "Is that really what you're wearing to the party?"

Kid stopped to analyze his own choice. He was rather elaborately dressed, wearing something he was sure his mother would have worn…if he'd actually ever known his mother. It looked, to Liz, like the kind of dress she might've warn to an awards ceremony; long, sparkly, black, satiny, lacy… "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"It's pretty and all, but it's not really something you can shake your ass in."

Kid looked at Liz's choice of dress. "Oh yeah? And you look like…dear God, you look a bit like Giriko!"

"And what's wrong with that?" she smirked. "Giriko's cute…even if he is evil and creepy."

Kid blushed sadly, looking at the ground. "So, is that what you like?"

Liz shrugged. "I don't really have a type. Neither Patty nor I really changed in the Lust chapter…"

Kid looked quizzically at her. "The Lust chapter?"

"Yeah, the first chapter in the Book of Eibon. You must have gone through it – that's what we assumed you meant by Gender Bender." Kid shook his head. Liz smiled devilishly. "Well then, we're gonna have to get you some ass-shaking clothes. Come on."

X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X

"Come on Maka, are you ready to go yet or what?" Soul was mostly trying to avoid speaking to Maka. He knew she was going to want to discuss what Lord Death had told her, and he didn't want to talk about that right now. He actually didn't ever want to talk about it, but especially not now.

"Knock it off Blair! Yeah, Soul, I'll be ready in a minute." Soul opened the door a bit, trying to see what was going on and why Maka seemed so upset. He walked in to see Blair fondling Maka's boobs – trying to make them look smaller without binding them. Soul felt blood trickling out of his nose. He smacked his nose to hide the blood, and then slammed the door to hide the sound of the smack.

"Shit." Oh, what do you have to be complaining about? Sure, you feel all kinds of warm, gooey feelings on the inside and you just want to get the girl alone in her room so you can take some pent-up lust out on her, but at least you're not being shredded from the inside out like a – "Oh, shut up would you?"

Maka reappeared, head cocked, in Soul's orange shirt and black, leather jacket. Soul wasn't sure how to feel, except dizzy. "Are you okay, Soul?" Blair messed with their hair, and Maka took this time to try to coerce Soul into talking about what Lord Death had told her. "So, Soul," she said, a small blush creeping up on her cheeks. "About what happened, with Amortentia –"

Soul broke free from Blair's grasp, and grabbed Maka's hand, running out the door. "No time to discuss that now. Like Kid said, we'll discuss it after the party."

X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X –X -X X –X X-X –X X-X –X

A disco ball, reflective mirrors everywhere, black lights, glow in the dark spray paints, and rave music: Kid and the girls had certainly done their all to make the party as seizure-inducing as possible.

Kid had invited everyone from school, all of whom were dancing and grinding up on each other and staring strangely at the Spartoi kids, who took the theme to such an extreme level that all the underclassmen were wondering if this weren't some kind of weird inside joke.

Kid had been forced into some of Liz and Patti's clothing – cut down and synched up to the smallest amount, so that Kid looked (and felt) as feminine as possible. As early as possible, Black Star had shown up to spike the punch, and Liz was now hanging, drunk, on Kid's arm, screaming at every girl who came near him ("Don't you come near my meister! He's mine, mine! Goddammit!" followed by some sobbing and "Kid…I love you, I love you so much…" followed by some vomiting, some uneasy squirming from Kid, and Liz commenting to Kid that he "looks so cute when you're trying to get away from me"). Patti was giggling in a corner, dancing hypnotically by herself and slyly tipping paintings over.

Black Star and Tsubaki had taken up most of the crowd's attention, dancing almost professionally in the middle of the floor. It was tiring, but Tsubaki much preferred it to cleaning up after Black Star's atrocious eating habits.

Maka couldn't find her date. She was searching agitatedly throughout the crowd, hoping to find Soul hiding amongst the layers of people, but of course he wasn't. He was in the last place she thought to look and, honestly, the first place she should have thought to look.

Soul was standing on the balcony, arms folded on the railing and looking down. Maka stepped out behind him. "Soul, we really need to talk." Soul sighed, putting his head down. "Lord Death told me everything that happened…why didn't you just tell me?"

"Yeah, right." He turned around and hopped up to sit on the railing. "As if dealing with this wasn't enough. The last thing I needed was to hear you telling me how all men cheat and how my feelings were artificial –"

"But I knew they weren't," she interrupted, blushing. "I overheard you talking to that demon in your soul –"

"Then why did you even need me to tell you? Why couldn't you have just told me you overheard?"

"Because I thought you would run away, or deny it, tell me I was hearing things. Besides, you might have thought it was an invasion of privacy…I wanted you to be able to tell me when you wanted to, not when you had to."

Soul shook his head. "I didn't want you to know…"

"I know…and I'm sorry…for all of the generalization…"

Soul sighed. "I should have been a better partner, if I wasn't always criticizing you –"

"Then this would have just happened sooner" she pointed out with a shrug. "You just said those things…to hide your feelings…right?" Soul nodded.

Maka walked over to where he sat, and held his hand. She took a big breath. "I love you, Soul. And I just want you to know…you can always tell me anything and –" she blushed, looking sideways. "Would you…please…be my boyfriend?"

Soul smiled for the first time in a very long time, showing off his sharp teeth. "The way things are now, it's more like girlfriend."

"Soul, you know what I mean –"

"Yes, and I thought you'd never ask."

Soul leaned down and kissed her on the lips. She could feel his teeth behind his lips, as if his tongue was trying to escape and he was trying desperately not to let that happen, but Maka couldn't back away from a challenge if she tried. She forced her tongue between his lips, cutting herself on the way.

When the kiss was over, Soul smirked as Maka felt the tip of her tongue, swearing. "Wow, kinky."


	9. Chapter 9

Medusa tried to see the actions of her victims in a make-shift crystal ball, but it wasn't working out too well. Behind her, Amortentia was cleaning out her nails, leaning boredly up against a wall. "Could you please remind me what the point of all of this was?"

Medusa let out a low-registered hiss, a snake actually coming out of her mouth for a moment. "The point was to shake their confidence. Maka already hates men. If your damn spell was working properly –" she illustrated her frustration by throwing the ball down the alley. It knocked over quite a few trashcans. She would have been rather pleased with herself if she weren't so angry. " – then Maka would be convinced that Soul was just toying with her by pretending to have feelings for her."

Amortentia rolled her eyes. "Do you ever listen to anything I say? The spell you asked me to use doesn't create false feelings. All you've done is pair up a couple of twitterpated teenagers who were probably going to end up together in the end anyway. And why bother with those two specific teenagers? We have a mini-Death God we could be messing around with! Imagine all havoc we could wreak if we were to cause him to fall deeply in love – but with the wrong person!"

Medusa rolled her eyes at Amortentia's excitement. How some people ever learned to make it through witch school, she'd never understand. "Fine, do whatever you like." Amortentia giggled excitedly, running off down the alleyway to create her own plans. "Idiot."

X – x – X – x – X – x – X – x – X – x – X – x – X – x - X – x – X – x – X – x – X – x – X

"Are you breaking up with me?" Maka was looking at Soul suspiciously. He was standing, one hand in his pocket, the other holding Maka's hand. They were standing in the back of the basketball court.

Soul shook his head in annoyance. "No, of course not. I thought you trusted me?"

"I do trust you." She shifted her weight from her right foot to the left. "But it wouldn't exactly be unlike you to ditch me for my own safety."

He laughed. "Well, I guess you could say I'm doing that." Her ponytails started wiggling. "Listen, I don't – I don't know what else this spell will do to me, so until I can get it off, I may not be fully capable of knowing or stopping what I'm doing, and I don't want to, like, kill someone." Out of the corner of his eyes, he was giving Blair a look.

"Besides," he sighed. "This isn't just for me." He smirked in Kid's general direction, and Maka smirked in Liz's.

"Well… okay. Just don't kill Kid."

"What, you have some unsettled debt with him."

"It wouldn't be very 'cool' to have to visit my boyfriend in prison."

Soul shrugged. "Okay, whatever." Maka pecked him on the lips before running off to join Tsubaki and Patty in a game of pick-up basketball.

"I thought you hated basketball?"

"As long as Black Star's not playing, I'm cool with it."

"What's wrong with Black Star playing?"

"We can't all be as tolerant of your boyfriend as you are."

"He's – he's not my boyfriend!"

"Awwwww~ Tsubaki and Black*Star sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"Hey, Kid, where is Black Star?"

Kid shrugged. Soul considered taking a picture of the goofy look on Kid's face as he watched Liz, one arm around Maka and the other around Patti as they taunted Tsubaki. Then he reconsidered, remembering his friend was a Death God.

"So…what did your dad say?"

"He wants us to continue working together." Kid made a soft, heartbroken kind of sound. "He said that the progress I made just wasn't enough."

"You did make some pretty nice progress."

Kid cocked his head at Soul, an evil smirk stretched on his face. "Consoling? Wow. Maka really must be doing you some good." Soul punched Kid on the arm, and went back to watching the game. He could help but be fixated on Maka. The little demon in his head – soul, heart, wherever – had been especially troublesome the past few days, trying to whisper various ideas into Soul's head – none of which were pleasant. It had gotten to the point where Soul was terrified to even kiss Maka. Not that the thoughts could stop him.

"Are you okay?" Soul shook his head, promising to tell Kid later. Kid shrugged, waltzing over to Liz. Soul smiled at the two. He wouldn't have found it so damn cute a month ago.

"Hey,"

"Hey. I thought you went to play basketball with the others?"

"It's devolved into an arbitrary conversation about boys and nail colour." Soul cringed. "I really don't need to talk about either. Maka considered her nails. "What colour should I paint them?"

"Oh, God, do not drag me into that."

"Soul, I'm jo-" Maka paused in mid-sentence, standing straight up. Soul saw Kid do the same. Soul wrapped an arm around Maka. "You guys, you sense something don't you."

"Yeah… SOUL! Get down!"


	10. Chapter 10

"Oh, my God, Maka, please, get your knee off there. I'm going to need that later on in life."

"Shit, sorry." Maka grabbed at Soul's shirt, dragging him out from under the park bench where they'd taken cover. Their friends were sprawled on the basketball court. Maka could have sworn she saw little birds and stars dancing around their heads (Kids, of course, doing a figure-eight).

"What - what the fuck happened to you guys?" Black Star had finally arrived, a basketball under one arm and the other hand on his hip.

"Big explosion." Liz answered. She pushed herself up and rushed to help Tsubaki, who seemed to have twisted her ankle. She blushed.

"Th- thanks, Liz."

"No problem. Your leg's okay, right?"

"Oh, I - I don't know."

"You're blushing like crazy, I'd say you're in pain."

"Oh, Liz, you're so nice -"

"Hey, Liz, GET OFF MY GIRL!"

"Would you SHUT UP BLACK STAR? Gosh, you are so embarrassing sometimes!"

"Oh, okay, wow, I do not want to be a part of this -"

"Hey sis, Kiddo needs some help getting up."

"Can you get him, Patti? I kinda got my arms full -"

"Oh Liz -"

"Snap the fuck out of it, Tsubaki! This isn't funny!"

"You could learn from her ya know!"

Patti ran over to Kid, grabbing him hug-style to his feet. Kid blushed. "Patti, you know, you're really quite...symmetrical. It's so...appealing."

"Oh for fuck's sake, not you too, Kid."

"Not me, what?"

"Patti, what did you do to Kid?"

"I dunno! I'm sorry big sis, he won't stop hugging me!"

Maka laughed. "Wow, this just looks like one big sitcom." Soul wasn't smiling. "Hey, Soul, are you okay?" Maka tried to hold his hand, but he flinched and ran away. "Soul! Wait! Where are you going?"

X - x - X - x - X - x- X- X - x- X - x - X- x - X - X - x - x- x x- X - x - X - x - X

Soul ran until he reached a cliff, a pain burning through his chest and lungs. He'd never run so far or so quickly in his life. He'd hoped that running away, to a place with more peace, would help clear his mind and take the thoughts out of his head. But it didn't help. If anything it'd been made worse.

He'd been afraid of this. Yesterday he and Maka had been goofing around at home and it had, as it usually did, devolved into kissing. Maka had started out giggling, but it turned quickly into whimpering, and not the nice kind. She sounded afraid. Before he knew what was happening, he'd lost control of his impulses. He'd pinned her to her bed, where he'd been helping her fold laundry and wound up growling possessively. He was only thankful that Maka was strong enough to kick him backwards. He hit the back wall just as her father walked in. He apologized before running quickly out the door, hand over his mouth. Her lip was badly bleeding.

Later that night, when he'd apologized nearly fifty times in a row, going through all of the lame things Maka was afraid he'd say ("If you want to break up with me, I'll completely understand"), Maka pinned him to the couch and said that she understood: it wasn't him, it was the Black Blood. It was just one of those things they were going to have to work on. Soul might've been okay with the whole situation, might have taken it to be a learning experience if it wasn't for a very confused Spirit who came up to him the next day and, unsure of what to say to Soul, simply threw a box of condoms at his head. Soul had been through many embarrassing experiences in his life, but this was probably the worst of them all. He was surprised that Spirit didn't kill him, but he also figured that Maka probably chewed him out and threatened him within an inch of his life.

Soul was about 98.89% sure (God, the symmetry of it all. Kid really was getting to him. He was even imagining the second '9' backwards, so that it was even) that the explosion was Amortentia. It was confirmed by the little demon screaming profanities. What the fuck did you do to me? "I didn't do anything, dammit."

"Soul? Are you okay?"

He turned, nearly wobbling off the cliff. "No, Maka, and you need to get away from me before I hurt you."

"That's just ridiculous, Soul."

"Oh is it, girlie girl?"

LEAVE HER ALONE!

"NO! I won't leave her alone. That little bitch –"

Don't you dare call her a bitch!

"- She's killing me!"

If Maka hadn't recognized the second voice, she might've thought that Soul was having a full-fledged conversation with himself.

"Soul, what's going on?"

Soul just started screaming, knees bent and hands on his head.

"Maka! Blair was running up to them, a book in hand. "Maka, you have to kiss him!"

"What? How is that going to help anything?"

"True love's kiss - that's what breaks the curse!"

"You're kidding me, right? This isn't a Disney movie!"

"I wish I were kidding you, but I'm not. It says it right here in the book."

"But we've kissed a hundred times already!"

"I know, but it has to be right now."

"Right now?"

"Yes. Something about being able to accept the insanity or something -"

"Oh for the love of God, this is so poorly timed!"

"Nyo kidding, now just do it already!"

Somehow, Soul had begun emulating his own wind, like a self-generated tornado. Maka had a hard time walking up to him. Her heavy boots were making it even harder to move than usual, and Soul was screaming something at her that she assume was "get back" and "it's too dangerous".

"Soul! Shut up!" She grabbed the front of his shirt, forcing him back up into a standing position, and kissed him. It was not the most romantic thing she'd ever experienced. Or, at least, she hoped it wasn't going to be. The wind died down and Soul fell over onto her shoulder. She supported him back up. She bit her lip. "Are you okay?" He shook his head 'no' and nodded it 'yes' and the same time. He coughed. Make crinkled her nose. She was about to tell him how gross that was until she realized just what it was he coughed up.

"God dammit, what am I doing in a dress?" The little demon was no long red, put a violent shade of pink. And he was wearing a dress. And he was even smaller than Ragnarok had been. He leered at Maka. "You did this to me, you bitch!" Soul grabbed the demon's dress dress, holding the demon in the air between himself and Maka.

"Please don't eat it again this time."

Soul shook his head. He walked over to the cliff and drop-kicked the demon as far as he could. "Well, I'm glad that's over with."

"Your...your feelings haven't changed, have they?" Maka was twirling her skirt with her finger. Soul considered it for a long time. He could have scared the hell out of her by pretending they had, or even worse - by pretending he had no memory of anything whatsoever.

But all of that just felt like too much energy. "No, of course not." They could hear their friends screaming at one another in the distance. "Well, I guess Amortentia's gotten to them now."

"Yeah..." Maka was staring behind her with an absent-minded look on her face. "You wanna go grab some Chinese?"

Soul smiled. For the first time in about two months, he was actually hungry. He wormed his fingers between hers. "I'd love to."

They walked off, leaving Blair standing in the same place, book still in hand. "Hey," she whined. "What about me?"


End file.
